LOW RIDERSHIP FAILS TO STOP TRI-RAIL IN ITS TRACKS

The half-empty commuter train rocks gently as it rolls north through Dade County alongside Interstate 95.

"Look at this," says Tri-Rail passenger Chris Burt, pointing at the line of cars on I-95. "It's all backed up. That kind of driving takes something out of your life. It makes you feel miserable."

When the West Palm Beach-to-Miami train was launched a year ago amid speeches and ribbon cutting, officials predicted people would abandon their cars in droves because of construction work on Interstate 95.

But that hasn't happened.

Few followed commuters such as Burt onto the Tri-Rail system, which averages only 3,000 passengers a day. Despite free rides, schedule changes, additional stations, and the long-awaited link with Dade County's Metrorail system, ridership is about the same as on opening day.

"God, I don't know what we're going to do to pry people out of their cars," said Sen. Tom McPherson, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat whose work in environmental issues has made him a strong Tri-Rail supporter.

McPherson, who backs the train because it replaces pollution-spewing cars, is among a handful of powerful backers. Among the others: House Speaker Tom Gustafson, D-Fort Lauderdale, and Senate Appropriations Chairman Gwen Margolis, D-North Miami.

The train has been an expensive alternative. First-year costs, which include purchase of the train equipment, hit $120 million. And there are plans to spend more.

Tri-Rail officials said midday service, scheduled to start on Monday, will boost ridership. Until now the trains have operated only during the rush hours.

However, two polls conducted by the Sun-Sentinel during 1989 suggest that the system will continue to have difficulty luring motorists.

The polls, completed last month, showed that motorists have found less congestion than anticipated on I-95, the primary north-south artery for South Florida commuters.

In Broward County, 21 percent of motorists surveyed during 1989 expected severe delays on I-95, but only 13 percent experienced them. In Palm Beach County, 16 percent of those polled anticipated traffic nightmares. Only 10 percent found it to be that bad.

The apparent result: Fewer motorists have turned to the train.

Ridership is critical because state law requires that Tri-Rail must eventually pay 40 percent of its costs. Unless those requirements are met, Tri-Rail must be shut down.

The system already has a host of critics who say large numbers of local commuters will never use a train.

Shelley said the money would be better spent on roads. He has advocated a referendum on Tri-Rail's future.

So far, Tri-Rail supporters have had the upper hand. When large numbers of riders failed to materialize, legislators decided last year that the system needed to recover only 40 percent of its expenses. The figure had been 60 percent.

And even though some of the trains are virtually empty, legislators hope to have more, not fewer trains. Gustafson and others are pushing a plan to spend $200 million for more equipment, another set of tracks between West Palm Beach and Miami, and increased feeder-bus service.

"If you create any system, then half do it, you can expect to fail," said State Rep. Jim Hargrett, the Tampa Democrat who oversees the House Public Transportation Committee. "Tri-Rail has been half done."

And Sen. Javier Soto, R-Miami, said, "You can't buy a Cadillac for the price of a Yugo.

At one point, Gustafson even chided Tri-Rail officials for not asking for more money.

Tri-Rail, meanwhile, has lurched from one crisis to another in its first year under the leadership of three different executive directors and the Florida Department of Transportation, which helps manage the project.

Almost every aspect of the system has come under fire, from its underused feeder-bus network to the taxpayer-paid trips taken by a consulting firm.

Some commuters are getting fed up.

"You don't know what we go through," said Arlene Lamorena, who commutes to Miami International Airport from West Palm Beach.

Lamorena, an administrative assistant at American Airlines, tells story after story of the train leaving just before the bus arrives, of bus drivers so unfamiliar with the route from the airport terminal to the train station that the passengers have to give directions.

Frequently, she and several other commuters take a cab from the airport to the train station because they fear the bus won't make the train.

A $900,000 train station at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport had to be demolished last year because it was built too close to a runway. Another station in Boynton Beach, which opened in December, was months late.

State investigators are looking into the $264 million purchase of the rail line from CSX Transit Services after complaints from Tri-Rail officials that the company still has too much control over the rail line and was able to stall plans for midday trains.

Despite all the problems with the train in South Florida, legislators have created a Central Florida train agency in hopes of setting up commuter service in the Orlando area.

The Tampa Bay area is expected to be next.

Whatever happens, it may be Tri-Rail's midday service that will decide the fate of commuter trains in Florida.

If the increased service fails to attract more riders, the enthusiasm for spending more money on Tri-Rail could wane. And Tri-Rail's failure in Florida's most heavily populated area would make another commuter train unlikely.